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<p>Since the beginning of the last century, anthropic interventions and activities have intensified on the Atlantic coast of Uruguay, generating important pressures, disturbances and negative impacts. It is the case of a coast characterized by extensive systems of mobile dunes that crossed beach arcs delimited by rocky extremities, lagoons and coastal marshes. From that moment on, a transformation process was triggered that involved the afforestation and fixation of the dunes and their subsequent urbanization and commercialization, which we call anthropogenic driver. With the passage of time, this driver has produced a hardening and shrinking of the coast that, ironically, affects anthropic urban infrastructures, mainly due to the erosive action of waves and the flooding of low-lying areas. This study analyzes the main causes of coastal system dysfunctions that have triggered various problems and conflicts at the socio-ecological level and that position the coast as a zone of environmental conflict. We examine the alterations in sediment recirculation caused by the fixation of dune systems, in particular the bypass between the rocky extremities of the beach arches, and make an estimate of the amount of sediment transported by wind and marine action, as a way to identify sediment inputs and outputs of the coastal system. We found that the erosive process currently observed can be explained by an important deficit of sediment in the aeolian transport from the dune systems. At present, almost all of the dune systems are already fixed and urbanized. Sediment inputs depend on what can be mobilized from the beach and foreshore by longshore littoral drift, where wave action and sea level are beginning to play an increasingly important role. It is expected that if current climatic and anthropic occupation trends continue, erosion will increase in several sectors of Uruguay's coast, with the process of anthropic forcing taking priority over sea level rise due to climatic changes, with significant environmental and therefore socioeconomic and cultural impacts. Future coastal zone management should focus on preserving areas that are exempt or underdeveloped in terms of urban infrastructure and provide space for coastal zone readjustment.</p>

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A century of coastal transformation: hardening and shrinking of Uruguay’s indented coast in the Southern Cone

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月13日

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  • Daniel de Álava,
  • Laura Brum-Bulanti,
  • Hugo Inda

摘要

Since the beginning of the last century, anthropic interventions and activities have intensified on the Atlantic coast of Uruguay, generating important pressures, disturbances and negative impacts. It is the case of a coast characterized by extensive systems of mobile dunes that crossed beach arcs delimited by rocky extremities, lagoons and coastal marshes. From that moment on, a transformation process was triggered that involved the afforestation and fixation of the dunes and their subsequent urbanization and commercialization, which we call anthropogenic driver. With the passage of time, this driver has produced a hardening and shrinking of the coast that, ironically, affects anthropic urban infrastructures, mainly due to the erosive action of waves and the flooding of low-lying areas. This study analyzes the main causes of coastal system dysfunctions that have triggered various problems and conflicts at the socio-ecological level and that position the coast as a zone of environmental conflict. We examine the alterations in sediment recirculation caused by the fixation of dune systems, in particular the bypass between the rocky extremities of the beach arches, and make an estimate of the amount of sediment transported by wind and marine action, as a way to identify sediment inputs and outputs of the coastal system. We found that the erosive process currently observed can be explained by an important deficit of sediment in the aeolian transport from the dune systems. At present, almost all of the dune systems are already fixed and urbanized. Sediment inputs depend on what can be mobilized from the beach and foreshore by longshore littoral drift, where wave action and sea level are beginning to play an increasingly important role. It is expected that if current climatic and anthropic occupation trends continue, erosion will increase in several sectors of Uruguay's coast, with the process of anthropic forcing taking priority over sea level rise due to climatic changes, with significant environmental and therefore socioeconomic and cultural impacts. Future coastal zone management should focus on preserving areas that are exempt or underdeveloped in terms of urban infrastructure and provide space for coastal zone readjustment.